Advertising signboard with movable reflecting and translucent inscriptions



pr. 10, 1923 I 1,451,520

v v. wlsNn-:WSKI

ADVERTISING SIGNBOARD WITH MOVABLE REFLECTING AND TRANSLUCENT INSCRIPTIONS Filed Sept. 16, 1922 Figi ig. I.

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Patented Apr. l0, 1923.

UNITED lSTATES VINCENT WISNIEWSKI, F BERLIN, GERMANY.

ADVERTISING SIGNBOARD 'WITH MOVABLE REFLECTING AND TRANSLUCENT INSCRIPTIONS.'

Application led September 16, 1922. Serial No. 588,562.

To all whom it lmay concern.:

Be it known that I, VINCENT VVIsNIEWsKI, a citizen of Germany, and resident of Berlin, Germany, have invented newA and useful Ad- 6 vertising Signboards with Movable Reflecting and Translucent Incriptions (for which I filed an application in Germany August 24,- 1921), of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an advertising sign board for advertising at day time and at night time, the transparent or partly opaque characters or signs of which are lined with movable diaphanous mirrors.

The mirrors"I which can be smooth, of

prism' shape or otherwise decorated, are

painted upon the front side or upon the rear side with opaque lines netlke or 1n any other manner. The mirrorfoil is coated with a transparent varnish. Instead of the mirrors, other` diaphanous materials such as horn, cellon or the like could be used. The mirrors or other materials which form the characters or signs can be made in one piece or composed of diierent pieces, in which latter case the mountings which connect the pieces can form at the same time the opaque lines.

The movement of the mirrors can be effected in the plane of the mirrors in any direction, with the aid of convenient devices.

If vibrations have to be utilized, as for instance in railway cars or other vehicles, the mirrors could be mounted on springs so 35 that the mirrors are automatically moved up and down.

In order to produce the sparkling effect of the characters if the mirrors are stationary, a transparent endless band with netlike or other opaque line can be moved in front of the mirrors. l

vBy this arrangement a surprising advertising el'ect is ensured at day time as well as at night time, the sign board being either illuminated from the front or from behind.

At day time, the sign board being lighted from the front, the prism shaped decorated mirrors produce per se a very striking e'ect which is further increased by the displace- 50 ment of the reflecting plate whereby the prisms are made to disappear and to reappear, this striking efect being further 1mproved if the characters or the mirrors behind the same are painted with opaque net like lines. l

At night time, when the sign board is lilluminated from behind, the characters shine in consequence of the diaphanous mirrors and the displacement of the designs produced by the opaque net like painting` produce a striking vivid movement of the characters.

Referring to the drawings.

Flg. 1 is a front elevation of an advertising si nboard embodying my invention.

hg. 2 isa transverse sectional View of the sign shown in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views to Fig. 2 but each showing a different modification of the invention.

As shown in the drawings, the front of the sign consists of a glass pane upon which the signs'or characters are outlined by making those portions of the glass surrounding tlfe characters opaque preferably by painting the back of the glass, while the characters are left transparent. Immediately behind the glass pane aP- a translucent mirror b is mounted, which mirror has the back face thereof of irregular contour to form a plurality of substantially prism like sections eX- tending in parallelism horizontally across the mirror.

The mirror foil is coated with a transparent varnish whereby it is made diaphanous if lighted from behind.

Upon the back of the mirror, opaque lines are painted along the figures of the prisms. These net-like painted lines and the decoration of the mirrors, can be varied at will. The mirrors can be made in one piece or composed of several pieces. Other translucent materials could be substituted for the mirrors.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the mirror is fixed to the outer casing of the sign by means of the brackets I while Fig. 3 shows an elastic support of the mirror 7) which is thus automatically moved by vibrations such as occur for instance in rail- Way cars.

Fig. 4 shows a movable endless and transparent band c for instance of cellon whichv is painted with vnet like opaque lines.

The characters or signs of the pane a can be painted on the, back with a coloured transparent varnish. The characters or signs can be made in any shape and the illumination can be continuous or intermittent.

What I claim is:

1. An advertising sign board for day or night advertising, comprising a casing, a front closure for said casing provided with daphanous characters, a source ot' illumination in said casing behind said closure and a translucent mirror interposed in said casing between said closure and source ot' illumination whereby said mirror will reiiect light from a source exterior to said easing through said transparent characters and will permit the light fronrsaid source otl illumination to pass through said characters.

2. An advertising sign board as set forth in claim l, in which one of the faces of said mirror isprovided with an irregular contour to form a plurality of substantially prism- 4. An advertising sign board as set forth in claim l, in which said mirror is provided with a plurality of spaced opaque lines, and one of the faces ot' said mirror is provided with an irregular contour to form a plurality ot' substantially prism-like sections extending in parallelism across said mirror.

5. An advertising;l sign Yboard as set forth in claim 1, in which said mirror is provided with a plurality of spaced opaque lines and said mirror is resiliently mounted to permit it to oscillate whereby said opaque lines produce the illusion ol movement of the transparent characters.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature.

VINCFN T WISNIEWSKI. 

